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STREET ART
GRAFFITI
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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STREET ART & GRAFFITI?
The world of art has expanded from just simply being on canvases to the being on the walls of streets and sides of trains. Street art and graffiti art styles are increasingly used in advertisements to appeal to youth consumers and can be seen anywhere from within our daily lives. In the modern world we live in today, it is getting harder and harder to distinguish the two different art styles as they start to overlap.
Historically, graffiti was viewed as a form of vandalism and a threat to society. This all changed in the 1970s and 1980s as the hip-hop culture and graffiti started to emerge. Graffiti at that time was usually done by urban youth to voice the disenfranchise and anti-authoritarian rebels seeking an identity. Graffiti nowadays takes on many different forms. Although it is still used in the historical rebellious style, it has changed to become similar to another art form called street art; a style of art that has been on the rise since the big boom during the 1970s. Street art has clearly become a big part of the 21st century and can be seen in almost every country around the world. So, what are the differences between street art and graffiti? How can we tell them apart?
First of all, street art comes from contemporary and mainstream urban culture despite its roots in graffiti.
Although there are many crossovers between street art and graffiti art, some differences still exist. These two art styles both share a common goal of conveying a message or seek proliferation of a name. Graffiti is more traditional with tags, bombs and pieces following a set of rules. On the other hand, Street art allows you to freely express yourself as it is more open to interpretation from an artistic standpoint. Usually, Street art looks more like the artworks that can be seen on canvases rather than just tags. While Graffiti is mostly spray painted, Street art can vary anywhere from the use of stenciling, painting, wheat pasting, and sticker “bombing” (making and pasting stickers) as art forms that share a similar aesthetic.
Simply put:
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graffiti artists try to put up as many taggings of their name
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graffiti is only done by spray paint and is letter or character based
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street art is mostly images
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any material or technique can be used to create it: normal paint, brushes, paper for paste-ups etc.
URBAN ART?
Different from street art or graffiti, urban art is art that is legalized by the government. It is allowed by the city to be put up and is done at a high skill level to always be impressive. However, the terms Street art and Urban art seem to be used interchangeably.
STREET ART:
Artwork that is created in a public space, typically without official permission.
GRAFFITI:
Writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.